On July 4th our families and celebrate our nation's freedom. But for now, just imagine with me for a moment that you were not free, that you were a slave.

Now imagine that a law had been passed granting your freedom, only you were never told about this minor legal detail. You continued for years living as a slave, thinking you had no other option. You were legally free, but you were not truly free.

For Texas slaves in the 1860s, this was no hypothetical situation. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, liberating all slaves. However, this glorious news did not reach Texas until June 19, 1865. This day is celebrated in the African-American community as Juneteenth. The slaves were legally free, but because of a lack of knowledge, they still lived as slaves.

Unfortunately many Christians today still live as though they were slaves.

Let's start from the beginning. We were all born into sin. Theologians call this the doctrine of original sin. I never questioned that doctrine until we had our first child. Oh how sweet and precious was that little boy! He stole our hearts. He was pure innocence. Then something happened, giving Romans 3:23 a rich new meaning to me. I vividly recall telling my sweet little toddler, “No touch plant.” He looked at me with his bright eyes and cute little chubby face…all the while reaching out to touch the forbidden plant! That little sinner knew exactly what he was doing.

Non-believers at any age are slaves to sin. Sure, they believe they're free. They think that they are living free and making their own choices, but they’re not. Sin has a way of locking you in and taking away your options. You become its slave. Galatians 4:8 says, “However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are not gods.”

Then came the day we trusted in Christ's death on the cross and His resurrection for the forgiveness of our sin and our salvation. This was the day our personal Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

Most of us were properly taught that salvation comes by grace alone, but somewhere along the line we started believing that the day-to-day maintenance of our relationship with God was a result of works—that the more we do for God, the more He will do for us. Thus we lived as slaves.

After receiving the news of their emancipation, many slaves in the 1860s decided to stay on the plantation rather than face the uncertainty of freedom. On the plantation though, they knew what to expect and how to behave. On the other hand, freedom is risky. God took an unbelievable risk when He gave us freedom. And it cost him. Dearly. That freedom allowed Eve the choice of eating the fruit in the garden. It allowed Cain the choice of killing Abel. It allowed His Son Jesus to be the bearer of our sin as He suffered on the cross. And it allows us the choice of going about our day as if He wasn't even there at all. But—and this is where our freedom is worth all that pain—it allows us to freely choose to enter into conversation with Him, to open our hearts and request the pleasure of His company.

It's freedom that makes love possible. God, being the Almighty, All Powerful One that He is, could have created us without free will and programmed us to love Him. But would that be real love? No way. For a person to truly love you, they must have the option of not loving you, of rejecting you.

When Tiffany agreed to marry me, what made that so wonderful and amazing is that she was also saying that she did not want to marry any of her former boyfriends. She chose me, and I chose her. Though now that she knows me and how I leave cabinet doors open and toilet seats up, she might wish she could go back in time and choose differently :) Without freedom, love would not exist. As you celebrate our nation's freedom this Fourth of July, let's not forget to celebrate the wonder and joy of our freedom in Christ.

Give me liberty or give me death,

We wanted to alert you to our new PO Box on the envelope. In a continuing effort to be trustworthy stewards of the resources you've entrusted to us, we've decided to give up our physical office space for a virtual office. Our goal is to free up more funds that we can use directly for ministry purposes: to meet the Christians who are still living on the plantation, take them by the hand, and lead them into the expanse of their freedom.